In tonight’s edition of Behind the Headlines our guests Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh in London and Mohammad Nourizad in Tehran will discuss the latest social and political news of Iran, including:
What lies behind the Iranian regime’s silence about the discovery of the mummified body of Reza Shah?
Is the regime, as publicly announced by the senior cleric Javadi Amoli, on the verge of collapse?
Why has Ahmadinejad gone silent again?
New human right sanctions bill against the regime is approves by US Congress.
And, Angela Merkel’s talks with Donald Trump on Iran nuclear deal.
Mohammad Nourizad:
During the recent closing ceremony of the Quran reciting competition Khamenei had said that no one is as staunch an enemy of the US as his regime is. If you just take away this ‘animosity’ and anti-Americanism from him he will be left with nothing to cling on or talk about.
Right now the American filmmaker Oliver Stone is visiting Tehran and he is a critic of the US government’s policies but he is free to express his views because American society is based on democracy, which is the result of centuries of hard work by its people.
Just compare this freedom with Khamenei’s recent claims that the Iranians enjoy full individual and social freedoms, which is sheer lies and we all know that is not true.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
Democracy has many meanings in different countries. The Iranian regime opposes Western democracy and condemns it but when Oliver Stone from this very democracy travels to Iran to attend a film festival they turn him into a saint. Oliver Stone is visiting a country whose regime’s so-called anti-Americanism is deafening our ears but he goes back to US and faces no persecution.
In our country the writing of an open letter to Khamenei by Mr Nourizad himself or the former MP Mr Ghassem Shole Sadee has led to their imprisonment. The regime’s pretentious games can no longer deceive anyone, except themselves.
This reminds me of the recent comments by Mohammad Javad Zarif in an interview with Fareed Zakaria, in which he confessed that the regime that he is part of supports all terrorist and radical groups around the world.
Mohammad Nourizad:
If you look at the map of the world you will notice that all the countries on it do have a certain and relative stability in terms of their social and political issues.
However, in Iran and under the regime of the Islamic republic we have numerous social, cultural, political and economic crisis every single day, ranging from the fall of the national currency, filtering of social media, involvement in Syrian civil war, the nuclear deal and so on and so forth.
And now in the midst of all these problems the mummified body of Reza Shah has been discovered and Javadi Amoli says: “if the Iranian people rise up against the regime, they will throw all of us into the sea”.
I declare loudly that no other Iranian king has ever done so many good things for Iran than what Reza Shah has done. I am so sorry that under the influence of this regime’s propaganda and lies I used to have a different view of Reza Shah. I suspect the regime had known about the location of the body and might unearthed it to distract people’s attention from the many crises that the country is facing.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
Never in the contemporary history of Iran Reza Shah has become so much the focus of Iranian people’s attention. The regime did not take the slogan of our protesting youth seriously when they were shouting “Reza Shah, Bless Your Soul”. The discovery of his body only a day before the anniversary of his coronation has led to many believe that this is the hand of God that is acting against the regime.
The Iranian people look at what Reza Shah has done for their country 90 years ago and compare it with the devastations that this regime has brought onto Iran and naturally prefer Reza Shah to Khomeini and his gangs.
Mohammad Nourizad:
Ahmadinejad is more concerned about his own safety than those of his associates. He has been criticizing the regime recently but with no impact because he himself has been part of its nefarious actions for eight years. He can no longer deceive our people. He may have some inside information about Khamenei and other leaders of the regime. We may hear from him again.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
Saeed Mortazavi should have been sentenced to maximum punishment for his role in the murder of several protestors in 2009 but his close association with Khamenei has stopped justice being done to him.
Mohammad Nourizad:
Whatever Mortazavi has done were under the direct orders of Mujtaba, Khamenei’s son. It was Mujtaba who orchestrated the vote rigging in 2009 to put Ahmadinejad in power.